For the first time in five years, Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, has frozen enough to allow visitors from northern Wisconsin to walk across the lake to the ice caves of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. According to Reuters, officials declared the trek "low risk" about a month ago, and nearly 35,000 people have made the mile-long hike since then. According to the NOAA, the Great Lakes have reached their broadest ice coverage in 20 years, at 88 percent -- with Lake Superior at about 95 percent. Over the weekend, Reuters photographer Eric Miller trekked out on the ice, capturing these images. [15 photos total]

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Sightseers look at a frozen rock face along the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore of Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, near Cornucopia, Wisconsin, on February 14, 2014. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, about 94% of Lake Superior is covered with ice, enabling thousands of people to visit the islands on foot for the first time since 2009.
(Reuters/Eric Miller)
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Chuck Steinke and Sandy Kimble from Chicago wear warm hats as they trek across a frozen stretch of Lake Superior, after visiting the sea caves of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, on February 15, 2014.
(Reuters/Eric Miller)
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